Wishful Thinking
by DroppedPen
Summary: Alexandra Ashman is set on getting through school without any trouble, but soon someone very special catches her eye...  Teacher/OC Pupil fic, set in Series 5
1. Chapter 1

_**[A/N] And hello to you! I have returned from my er- year long break. I have to admit, I'm a bit wary about doing another chaptered fic after failing with both of my last two, but I'm trying desperately this time to get it right, and to actually finish something for once! I've even written the ending already, but no more about that, or me- we don't want to hear about me. So, here we are. This is my second attempt at a Waterloo Road fic, and my second teacher/pupil fic (not that we want **_**more**_** of them, but it's a little different to what you normally get). Hopefully Alex isn't too Sue-y. We'll see, eh?**_

* * *

><p><em>Alexandra Ashman.<em>  
><em>DOB- 13 May 1995<em>.

She stared down at the sheet of paper on her new head teacher's desk, a list of facts that seemed so far from the truth, and frowned. Next to a flood of information was a portrait of her- a photo taken a few weeks ago. Her blond ringlets hung around her shoulders, framing her small, almost elvish face- with two blue-green eyes staring into the camera. She wouldn't exactly class herself as pretty, more as a sort of average. She wasn't terribly thin either- all in all making her appearance very normal- or very boring, as she liked to think. The only thing that she could say about herself that was particularly unusual was her height. At her last school, she stood taller than most of her classmates, which was almost embarrassing. It was hard to hide from someone when she was the tallest person around. She turned away from the desk, dismissing her thoughts, and instead prodded around the empty office, looking nosily at the randomly strewn pencils and pens, the sticky notes on every available surface, feeling slightly out of place, slightly embarrassed to be alone in the small room- but not as embarrassed as she was when the door opened as she was looking through a book that had been placed on the out of place sofa. She closed it with a large thump, and placed it carefully back where she supposed it belonged.  
>"Ah, you must be the new girl that Miss Mason was talking about." In entered a young-ish dark haired man, quite average looking. Alex supposed he was kind of handsome, but she dismissed him in a sort of 'not my type' sense. A blush rose to her cheeks.<br>"Y-yes. I er, I guess so... sir." she said nervously, but he didn't seem to notice that or the fact that she had been snooping around the place. "A-Alex Ashman, sir."  
>"Alex- ah, that's the one. Nice to meet you. I'm Mr Mead." He smiled, and edged over to the desk, picking up various forms and papers that were probably confidential. She wouldn't mention the fact that she'd been looking at them 5 minutes earlier.<br>"It looks like I'm your science teacher this year." She already knew, but nodded along as if she was dumbstruck. He looked up from the sheet- her timetable, she guessed- to look at her properly. He gave her another reassuring smile, and put the papers back in their place. "Right," he looked over to the door, expecting Miss Mason to just walk right in, but soon adjusted his gaze to her. "Er, your form tutor is Mr Budgen... Eh, you'll fit right in." Whatever it was about Mr Budgen, he didn't sound so sure that she would 'fit right in' there. She decided not to question him, and find out the hard way. After all, she didn't want to give him a bad impression.  
>"So, um. Sir." She started, edging a little closer to the door with a forced grin plastered upon her face. "Where do I start?"<p>

When Mr Mead told her that she had Mr Budgen as a form tutor, Alex pictured a grumpy old man in a beaten up suit, hunched over at his desk with a newspaper and a frown on his face: and how right she was. She entered politely, knocking beforehand, and was greeted with a cold stare and an extended hand. She passed him a copy of the sheet that was on Miss Mason's desk, and he took a glance at it, grunted, and nodded to the back of the classroom. She sat reluctantly, looking to her left and right. On her left sat a boy with dark curls, who grinned at her friendlily. Sat next to him was a short, elfish girl with brown hair. She looked around his large torso and waved, her face spread into a large smile. To her right were two girls, both very different in looks- a redhead that was pale as snow and a tanned girl with the craziest tight curls Alex had ever seen. They didn't give her a passing glance, so she pretended to dig in her bag for something that didn't exist, trying to avoid her classmates' attention.  
>"Hey," someone called to her left. She looked up and saw the two grinning at her.<br>"So," said the girl, leaning over her friend. "What's your name, then?"  
>"Alex." She gave her an uneasy smile.<br>"I'm Ros." She looked up at the boy quite adoringly. "A-a-and this is Philip."  
>"Nice to meet you." He said awkwardly, drumming his fingers on the table. "What's your first lesson?"<br>"Er," She tried to remember her timetable by heart. "English, I think. With Miss... Hopewell?"  
>The girl looked at her sympathetically. "Tough luck. Me and Philip are with Mr Budgen. He's a good teacher and all, but I wish we had Mr Clarkson. He's the best."<br>"Yeah," piped up Phillip. "Mr Clarkson's the... bomb."

Alex was just about to reply when a bell sounded, and chaos started in the classroom. Everywhere she looked, students were grabbing bags, pushing one another, kissing, hugging, shouting, play fighting, running...  
>She supposed she should just get used to it. This was her life now. Ros and Phil walked her to her classroom, waving her goodbye, promising her to show her around at break. She smiled uneasily, stepping from the corridor into what looked like the depths of hell. All around her people were shouting, fighting each other, throwing things. Their teacher, who Alex assumed to be Miss Hopewell, was stood at the front of the classroom looking like a rabbit caught in headlights. Alex introduced herself- when Miss Hopewell has shouted loud enough to make the class quieten a little- and she was seated next to a girl with a scowl on her face. She was quite pretty- dark skinned, with big brown eyes and a hard stare.<p>

"So, where'd you come from, then?" Alex peered down at the front of the girl's English book. _Michaela White. Miss __Hopewell __Hopeless. English. _She looked up to meet her stare.  
>"Er, London, actually." She gulped slightly. Michaela White seemed like the enemy to almost everyone. She certainly was to Miss Hopewell.<br>"So you're one of those posh, stuck up folk, then." She leaned back in her seat, peering at her. Not even showing any kind of threat, just... staring. But it was one of the scariest moments of Alex's life. She hated that, feeling like she was being judged. It was terrifying for her. It was so daunting, and worry seemed to swallow her alive.  
>"I don't know what you mean." She looked back to her desk anxiously. Michaela laughed, but not at her. With her.<br>"Oh, calm down, will you! I mean one of those." She nodded towards one of the girls near the front, who had different uniforms on than everyone else in the room. Instead of the usual red and yellow ties, they sported ties of green and black.  
>"Good god, it's like the great battle of Hogwarts...' Alex mumbled to herself.<br>"What?"  
>"What?" She echoed, looking back to her. "Oh, nothing." She paused, looking over to Miss Hopewell. "So, what's the matter with her, then?"<br>Michaela crossed her arms over her chest, frowning slightly. "It's not our fault she's a crap teacher. She lets us walk all over her. So that's what we do. It's a right doss, English."  
>"I see..." Alex raised her eyebrows, watching Miss Hopewell potter around the classroom, trying to catch the attention of the class. "You should give her the benefit of the doubt, you know. She must be new. It's got to be hard doing this job, surely."<br>Michaela looked at her curiously, wondering if she was joking or not. "Are you serious?"  
>"What? I'm only saying."<br>Alex wondered if Miss Hopewell had ever had control over a class in her whole life- she doubted that it was even possible. Michaela snorted, shaking her head in pity. "Well if you want to live I'd suggest you stop 'just saying', yeah?" Alex nodded slowly, writing her name half-heartedly on the front of her exercise book that had just been placed on her desk.

In fact, Michaela wasn't that bad, once you started talking to her. She was almost normal- _well, as normal as you could get for Waterloo Road, _Alex thought, drawing faces in the back of her book. She had realized pretty soon that this particular English class wasn't to be bothered with. She felt rather insulted- she wasn't a bad student, she wasn't very bad at English, and thought that rather a lot of her class were still reading books for children- if they read at all, that was. Perhaps she should have said something; but she didn't want to make a fuss. She made a mental note to talk to Miss Mason or Mr Mead when the bell went, to catch up on how she was doing.

Break time came eventually, and even the rush of people and teachers through the corridor was slightly more peaceful than the class that she had just been in. She said goodbye to Michaela and traced her steps back to Miss Mason's office, where she knocked on the door, and was startled when an unfamiliar male voice called her in.  
>"So you're the new girl, mm?" Immediately Alex didn't like the way that he was peering at her. He looked down on her as if she were scum- as if she was as bad behaved as one of her English class. He looked her up and down, inspecting her, judging her. Alex forced a smile and nodded, looking down at her hands nervously.<br>"Alexandra Ashman, sir." She looked back up at him as he sat down behind a desk much like Miss Mason's, and gestured for her to have a seat.  
>"I'm Mr Tyler, Alexandra- I'm surprised that Miss Mason didn't tell me that you were here already." He seemed to grit his teeth as he forced out the sentence, narrowing his eyes slightly. "I'm the assistant head teacher, along with Miss Mason."<br>Alex found herself gulping, biting her lip awkwardly from loss of words. "Well… It's only my first day here; I've only had English so far. Actually, I-"  
>"Ah, yes, <em>English<em>." He pulled out her timetable, looking for the name of her teacher. "_With Miss Hopewell_…" He sounded surprised. "How did it go, eh?"  
>Alex shrugged, wanting to say something about the horrific lesson she'd just sat through without sounding disrespectful. "It was all right, I suppose. I don't think that Miss Hopewell would agree, though."<br>Well, at least that got a small chuckle from him. "No, I expect not. She's a good teacher, is Miss Hopewell. Very skilled- she just needs time to warm up, that's all." _That's definitely not all_, Alex thought, but kept her mouth shut and hummed, pretending to sound interested. "She's only just started here, you know. I'm sure you'll _both_ fit in here. We've got some… _lovely_… pupils here. You'll find a group of friends soon enough, won't you?"  
>"Oh, oh yes, Sir. I've already made a few this morning, actually." Alex perked up a little then, chattering about Ros and Phil, and even Michaela. Mr Tyler seemed to stiffen, something not quite right with him. "…Sir? Are you all right?"<br>He forced another lopsided grin. "Yes, of course- I just think that a girl like you… You've got a lot of potential, and it'd be a shame to see you waste it on a girl like Michaela Whi-"

"Max, I was just about to- Oh, sorry, I didn't know we had guests." Miss Mason burst into the room, looking almost hurt. Alex turned- oblivious to what was going on- and smiled at her, saying hello. Mr Tyler, however, did not. He rose out of his seat so quickly that if Alex had blinked she'd have missed it, and crossed over the room to Miss Mason.  
>"Rachel," he muttered quietly, but not too quietly for Alex to hear him. "Why didn't you tell me that we had a new pupil today?"<br>"Well, I left it up to Chris, actually. I was at a meeting, as you know I was."  
>"You could have let me handle it. You <em>should <em>have. I don't want to have to keep reminding you to alert me of these things. It's not professional- you shouldn't have left Chris to talk to her."

Miss Mason breathed exhaled slowly, and turned to face Alex, her voice rising back to normal volume to address her. Although she had now taken on a friendly attitude, Alex thought that she could see the steam practically rising from her ears.  
>"I think that we shouldn't waste any more of Alex's break time, don't you, Mr Tyler?" She smiled at her, and Mr Tyler grunted angrily. Alex made short small talk with Miss Mason and left in a hurry. She was glad to be out of there.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay, so I may have said that I was going to try and update regularly, but we all know how much of a long shot that was xD Anyway, after a lot of speculating, editing, forgetting, and being an idiot, here's the long-awaited chapter two. Sorry.**

* * *

><p>It seemed that break was almost over, and there was no point in finding Ros or Phil with only five minutes to herself, so she set off outside to get some fresh air- perhaps she would find them outside before the bell went. With no hope, she settled down on the edge of the field, thinking over the conversation that she had just had with Mr Tyler and Miss Mason's reaction when she walked in on them. What was it between them that made them so angry around each other? There was so much tension in that room that it was almost terrifying- Alex certainly didn't want to be back there in a hurry. She was sat alone on the dry grass, lost in her own thoughts, when a large shadow was cast over her. She peered upwards to see a pair of cold eyes, a frowning mouth and a green uniform.<p>

"You." The girl standing over her was quite short, with brown hair that was pulled into a ponytail. Her facial expression wasn't friendly in the slightest, and she was obviously agitated over something. Her foot was tapping impatiently against the ground, her eyebrows raised, ready to make a move.  
>"Y-yeah?" She gabbled a reply, both terrified and curious.<br>"You're the new girl, yeah?"  
>"I... am. Yeah, I am." She relaxed a little. At least she wasn't getting the life beaten out of her just yet.<br>"Here's some advice. Stay away from Michaela White." It wasn't a request, it was a command. Alex was curious as to what exactly was going on here.  
>"That's funny, because I recall her telling me to say away from <em>you<em>." She heard herself say. Well, it was the truth after all. Wasn't this the girl that Michaela had only just warned her about?  
>"She's a liar, a bully, and a bitch. Do you really want to associate yourself with those... animals?"<br>"Who said they were animals?" Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows.  
>"Just <em>stay away<em>."  
>"What if I don't want to?"<br>"Then I'll treat you how you wish to be treated," she snarled, "And you'll just have to deal with the consequences."  
>And with that, she turned on her heel and stalked off. Alex leaned back onto the grass and sighed, not knowing what she had got herself into.<p>

The bell rang promptly afterwards, and she got up reluctantly, checking her timetable for her next lesson. Apparently, she had roughly the same timetable as Ros did- apart from the differences in her English classes. She skipped off to Science in rather a good mood, despite the morning's events. She was rather relieved to see a friendly face as she was greeted by both Mr Mead and Ros in her science lesson. Mr Mead let her sit where she wanted, and was very cheerful to her- asking her about her day and her lessons. She decided that he would be a good kind of person to ask for help in the future- he seemed like he could be trusted by her. She watched intently as he moved around the room, and smiled to herself. Perhaps she would survive- she felt stronger in science than her other subjects. Ros nudged her in the side, distracting her.  
>"What?" She half-snapped at her.<br>"All right!" Ros whispered at her. "I was going to ask how you got on earlier, but... Is something wrong? We came looking for you at break, but you weren't there."  
>"No, no," she sighed, "It's just... nothing. Everything's fine. I just had to go and talk to Miss Mason- but someone else was there instead. Er, Mr Tyler, I think his name was."<br>"Oh, Mr Tyler's proper weird, he is." Ros paused and sighed, resting her chin in her hands, with her elbows on the table. "Well, if you're sure you're fine. How was English?"  
>Alex shrugged. "All right, I suppose. Poor Miss Hopewell- she lets them walk all over her, you know. It's not right; they shouldn't treat her like that."<br>"I know- but there's nothing you can do about it. No matter what you say, they'll either tease you or ignore you."  
>"I suppose so, but still-"<br>Ros turned, sitting up straight. She looked straight at her, speaking to her sternly. "I wouldn't worry about it, Alex- since the merge… Things have been stressful for everyone. Lindsay's in trouble and with her dad and everything… _Oh god_- sorry, I shouldn't have said that."  
>Alex bit her lip, not knowing what to say to her. Finally, she breathed a reply. "Who <em>is<em> Lindsay, anyway?" Ros almost laughed, shaking her head.  
>"She's hard to miss. She's the one that started all of this gang stuff between John Foster's and Waterloo Road. Well, her and Michaela White."<br>She had Alex's full attention now. "What do you mean, 'her and Michaela White'? I've met Michaela; she's all right, isn't she? Unless… Oh. Yes, I do know Lindsay. She came to see me at break- she's a bit strange. I didn't know that it was her- Michaela really hates her. Is that all because of this gang stuff, or what?"  
>Ros shrugged. "That, I guess. Apart from that fight they had on the first day- in Miss Hopewell's English lesson. Ask anyone, they all recorded it- they'll show it to you."<p>

Alex decided not to ask about Lindsay anymore. There was clearly something else going on with her that kept her sharp and snappy- something that Alex didn't want to test. Instead she forgot about Lindsay and Michaela, and started working on her Chemistry. She soon realized that she didn't understand a word of it, and simply gave up after ten minutes of pretending that she knew what she was doing. No matter how hard Ros tried to explain it to her, she just couldn't get the hang of it. After an agonizing hour of which she just drew in the back of her exercise book, the bell sounded, signalling the start of yet another lesson. She would have groaned at the thought of Maths if she wasn't so determined to get her hands on that video of Lindsay and Michaela. She wanted, _no, needed_, to find out what was going on between the two schools, and she would stop at nothing until she knew just what the two girls were capable of.


End file.
